‘Call a cop!’ West Cocalico opts for Ephrata police coverage during raucous meeting

If there had been tomatoes in the room, they would have been thrown at the West Cocalico supervisors during their Sept. 3 meeting during which they voted on police coverage starting Jan. 1.

Some folks came to cackle, chide, and scold because they knew their opinion at that point to maintain East Cocalico Township Police Department coverage was moot. In desperation, others tried to keep the game going in the last seconds by going over the same points, and then dissecting points of already made points — just in case it might make a difference.

The supervisors unanimously agreed on the motion to go with the Ephrata Borough Police Department. But as these meetings have been filled with the same people with the same goal, another option &tstr; using the Pennsylvania State Police was rarely discussed &tstr; until that night.

“You’ve all but decided not to go with the Pennsylvania State Police,” said Mike Witmer of Reinholds, a state police trooper. “However, in the unlikely consideration you would decide to go with that, is there any possibility that every resident’s taxes would be lowered?”

“Truthfully, it wasn’t considered to go with the Pennsylvania State Police because we didn’t think it would be acceptable to the public and so therefore we never even thought about that, but if that’s the choice of the public, I guess we could,” said James J. Stoner, supervisor. “I’m telling you, we could save $700,000 to $800,000; wouldn’t have to pay taxes for years.”

“What is the biggest concern with the service they would provide?” Witmer asked.

“I would have no problem going with the Pennsylvania State Police,” Stoner said.

“Have you talked to other townships that are similarly situated and rely on Pennsylvania State Police for coverage?” Witmer asked.

“We talked to Brecknock Township and if you talk to the supervisors over there, they’re very happy,” said Stoner.

“And response time is not an issue?” asked Witmer.

“Not to them,” said Stoner.

“And we would save over $700,000 if we went with state police?” asked Witmer.

“Correct,” said Stoner.

“What I’m really surprised about here tonight is there is no consideration to the amount of money that could be saved if they went with the state police,” said Witmer. “It was never a consideration, the tax implications for residents here. It’s never been discussed. I think $800,000 is a very significant amount for all the people who pay taxes here.”

“The Pennsylvania State Police, even though they may not be in our district, they do have 24/7 coverage,” said Stoner. “ “I was very impressed with Capt. White. I met with him two times for quite a long period of time on each occasion. There are zones and there’s a sergeant or lieutenant who is monitoring all the calls and if somebody has to go one place, there’s a car to go back it up and there’s also a roaming vehicle to back it up. There’s a roaming vehicle at all times. There could be two cars in West Cocalico at all times.”

“It sounds like the state police is not in consideration and I’ve worked with them a ton of years…,” said District Magistrate Nancy Hamill, West Cocalico resident. “If they would come here they would respond the best they could, but they’re continuously reducing their ranks.”

Later, Stoner did say that state police can’t guarantee response times that are comparable to local police.

“It doesn’t matter now, the wheels are in motion, they’ve made their decision,” said Witmer.

“There’s another point here that’s being totally overlooked,” Supervisor Terry Sheetz said. “The Legislature is constantly trying to make municipalities, pass legislation to charge municipalities to use state police services, so this ‘free ride,’ so to speak, there’s no guarantee it’s going to last.”

Other questions arose: Would Ephrata agree to partner with West Cocalico and Adamstown knowing that response time is of critical concern to them? Is Ephrata at all nervous of making the agreed upon four-minute, 20-second response time to West Cocalico?

“No, absolutely not, not at all,” Stoner said.

There will be five designated officers covering the zone of West Cocalico and Adamstown 24/7.

West Cocalico was also considering Spring Township, Berks County. The 2016 cost for Spring Township would have been $730,000; Ephrata Borough, $787,000; Pennsylvania State Police, zero. The start-up cost for Ephrata is $47,000; Spring, $36,000; State Police, zero start up cost.

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One Comment

I am against getting rid of 5 Police positions. At this time when Police are being killed for wearing their uniforms and the terror threats here and with ISIS. We need more Police not less.

My house is getting a lot older but my taxes keep getting higher. Surely with all the new homes built and occupied in our area the taxes should be less for each homeowner. We are Seniors on a fixed income and it is very hard when West Cocalico’s only solution is to raise taxes on homeowners. I realize this is another subject but with all the high taxes you collect Police jobs should be at the top of the list for consideration.
Respectfully, Joan
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